Flexible wood strips sheet, machine and method of manufacture

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a flexible sheet of wood strips for use in the fabrication of engineered floor boards or wood sheets and including the machine and method of manufacture of the flexible sheet of wood strips. The wood strips provide a wood floor which has much more stability than a solid wood plank which is much more affected by the temperature in a room and the moisture under the floor board. Also solid wood planks are much more expensive than engineered wood planks where only a very thin layer of quality wood material is utilized. The transverse wood strips are constructed of inferior wood material. Two or more treads of flexible material may be secured transversely to the wood strips to provide additional retention of the wood strips in the flexible sheet.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to a flexible sheet of woodstrips for use in the fabrication of engineered floor boards or woodsheets and including the machine and method of manufacture of theflexible sheet of wood strips.

BACKGROUND OF THE ART

It is known to construct engineered floor boards which comprise a toplayer of a quality wood material and a bottom or core layer formed oftransverse wood strips. Such a board is described, for example, in U.S.Pat. Nos. 5,736,227, 5,935,668 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,152,379. These woodstrips are secured by glue to the top wood layer and extend transverseto the longitudinal axis of the top wood layer to provide longitudinalflexibility and dimensional stability to the board. US Publication No.2004/0226243 discloses a two-ply flooring plank which has two layers ofplies, with a bottom layer having a grain that runs generally transverseto the top layer to provide dimensional stability to the plank. Thebottom layer is comprised by a number of strips secured to the bottom ofthe top layer and the strips are placed with gaps therebetween to allowflexibility of the flooring plank, which allows a flooring formed bysuch planks to more easily conform to irregularities in a sub-floor uponwhich the flooring plank is mounted.

It is common to fabricate the wood strips in a machine wherein the woodstrips are held together by wires which are squeezed into slots whichhave been cut in a common surface of the wood strips when assembledtogether. Instead of using wires held in friction fit in slots, it isalso known to secure the wood strips in side-by-side relationship by useof adhesive tapes or adhesive fiber layers. The wood strips may also bespaced-apart. However, with these methods, wood strips often becomedetached during manipulation and transportation. Also, because thesewood strips are made from inferior wood products, some of the strips aresusceptible to warping, particularly, when left in storage for lengthytime periods. This warping also causes additional problems in that thespacing between the boards becomes irregular. These problems result inadditional costs in the fabrication of wood boards glued on such strips.The result is that the irregular spacing causes larger gaps betweenadjacent wood strips or no gap and this translates in a telegraphy ofthe wider gaps on the surface of the top layer which is very thin. It isdesirable to have constant width grooves to provide longitudinal flexionand prevent telegraphy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a feature of the present invention to provide a flexiblesheet of wood strips which substantially overcomes the above-mentioneddisadvantages of the prior art.

Another feature of the present invention is to provide a machine for thefabrication of flexible sheets of wood strips for use in the fabricationof engineered floor boards.

Another feature of the present invention is to provide a method for thefabrication of flexible sheets of wood strips for use in the fabricationof engineered floor boards and which overcomes the disadvantage of theprior art.

According to the above features, from a broad aspect, the presentinvention provides a flexible sheet of wood strips. The wood strips areheld together in side-by-side aligned spaced relationship bythermofusable glue droplets spaced-apart at predetermined locationsalong opposed side edges of the wood strips to interconnect the woodstrips to one another between the opposed side edges and provide aflexible joint of substantially constant width between these opposedside edges.

According to another broad aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a machine for the fabrication of flexible sheets of woodstrips. The machine comprises feed means for supplying a plurality ofwood strips to a transporter. The transporter has equidistantlyspaced-apart wood strip engagement means for transporting and orientingthe wood strips in spaced sequence adjacent a glue droplets applicatorwherein two or more glue droplets are disposed at spaced-apartpredetermined locations along a longitudinal side edge of each of thewood strips. Wood strip transfer means is provided for transferring thewood strips with the glue droplets to an input end of a conveyor wherethe wood strips are disposed side-by-side and interconnected in spacedrelationship along opposed side edges thereof by the glue droplets. Theconveyor has displacement means for engaging and conveying the woodstrips interconnected in spaced relationship from opposed top and bottomsurfaces and to squash any of the glue droplets projecting above the topand bottom surfaces of the wood strips interconnected by the gluedroplets. Pressure means is associated with the conveyor to applypressure across the wood strips from opposed top and bottom surfacesthereof to keep the wood strips flat. The glue droplets are dried and/orcooled sufficiently along the conveyor for the glue droplets to providea mechanical retention force to retain the wood strips in interconnectedspaced-apart relationship to form the flexible sheets of wood strips.

According to a still further broad aspect of the present invention,there is provided a method for the fabrication of flexible sheets ofwood strips for use in the fabrication of engineered floor boards. Themethod comprises the steps of providing a plurality of elongated woodstrips having similar dimensions. The wood strips are fed in apredetermined orientation to a transporter. The longitudinal side edgeof the wood strips are oriented to receive two or more spaced-apart gluedroplets from a glue droplets applicator which applies two or morespaced-apart glue droplets along the longitudinal side edge. The woodstrips are then transferred with the glue droplets thereon to an inputend of a conveyor where the wood strips are disposed side-by-side andinterconnected in spaced relationship along opposed side edges thereofby the glue droplets. The wood strips are conveyed interconnected inspaced relationship from opposed top and bottom surfaces thereof.Pressure is applied across the wood strips to stabilize the wood stripand to squash any of the glue droplets projecting above the top andbottom surfaces of the wood strips. The conveyor is of sufficient lengthfor the glue droplets to dry or cooling sufficiently to provide amechanical retention force of the glue droplets to retain the woodstrips in interconnected spaced-apart relationship to form sheets of thewood strips.

According to still further broad aspect of the present invention, thereis provided a flexible engineered wood sheet comprising a top wood sheetfabricated from a quality wood material glued to a surface of a sheet ofwood strips. The wood strips are held together in side-by-side alignedspaced relationship by thermofusable glue droplets spaced-apart atpredetermined locations along opposed side edges of the wood strips tointerconnect the wood strips to one another between the opposed sideedges and also providing a flexible joint of substantially constantwidth between the opposed side edges. The wood strips have alongitudinal axis thereof disposed transverse to a grain orientationaxis of the top wood sheet to provide flexibility of the top wood sheetalong the grain orientation axis and dimensional stability to theflexible engineered wood sheet.

Further details of these and other aspects of the present invention willbe apparent from the detailed description and figures included below.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference is now made to the accompanying figures depicting aspects ofthe present invention, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmented top view of a flexible sheet of wood strips foruse in the fabrication of engineered floor board and constructed inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a transverse section view showing an end section of theflexible sheet of wood strips and wherein the end strip is wider thanthe adjacent wood strips;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-section view, partly fragmented,illustrating the position and utility of the interconnecting gluedroplets;

FIG. 4 is a fragmented section view illustrating an embodiment of howfloor boards can be fabricated using the flexible sheet of wood stripsof the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the machine for the fabrication offlexible sheets of wood strips in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 5 but viewed from theopposed end of the machine;

FIG. 7 is a fragmented perspective view showing the front end portion ofthe machine;

FIG. 8 is a perspective and fragmented side view showing the loading endof the machine and the transfer of the wider wood strips to thetransporter for the delivery of the wood strips to the thermofusableglue droplets application station;

FIG. 9 is a fragmented perspective view showing the application ofthermofusable glue droplets on the side edge of the boards and theirtransfer into the assembly and press section of the conveyor;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective view showing the thermofusable gluedroplets application station;

FIG. 11 is a further enlarged perspective view showing the transfer ofthe wood strips with their glue droplets into the assembly end of thepress conveyor; and

FIG. 12 is an enlarged perspective view showing the press conveyor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the drawings and more particularly to FIGS. 1 to 3 there isshown generally at 10 a flexible sheet of wood strips constructed inaccordance with the present invention. The flexible sheet of wood stripscomprises a plurality of wood strips 11 generally formed of resinouswood material which are held together in side-by-side aligned spacedrelationship by thermofusable glue droplets 12 disposed spaced-apart atpredetermined locations along opposed side edges 13 and 13′ of adjacentwood strips 11 and 11′. The thermofusable glue droplets 12 interconnectthe wood strips 11 to one another between the opposed side edges 13 and13′. The droplets are of substantially identical volumes to provide aconstant spacing between the strips.

As herein shown, retention means in the form of elongated treads 14 offlexible material are secured to a face 15 of the wood strips 11.Alternatively, a tread of flexible material may be connected to each ofthe wood strips by suitable means such as staples to provideinterconnection of the wood strips to prevent their detachment from theglue droplets. As shown in FIG. 1, there are two of the treads 14 offlexible material disposed spaced-apart and these provide additionalretention of the wood strips for the handling thereof such as whenstaking them in bundles and transporting them and manipulation at theassembly plant where floor boards are manufactured. The flexible treads14 are formed of polyester fibers or other fibers impregnated in gluecoatings disposed across the outer face 15 of the wood strips 11. Asshown in FIG. 4, the polyester fiber treads 14 are positioned on theflexible sheet of wood strips at a location whereby to lie between thethin top quality wood sheets 20. A glue is applied on the top outersurface 15 of the wood strips 11 prior to the positioning of the thinquality wood sheets. The wood strips 11 are elongated rectangular woodstrips and define opposed flat top and bottom surfaces and transversestraight flat side edges 13. The glue droplets 12 as well as theflexible treads 14 maintain these wood strips spaced-apart withsubstantially constant spacing therebetween as determined by the gluedroplets. The glue droplets also provide flexibility to the sheet 10 ofwood strips. Although the wood strips are herein shown of constantdimension, the sheet of wood strips may comprise wider wood strips atspecific intervals whereby during the fabrication of engineered floorboards the wider wood strips would be positioned at the ends of the woodboards to provide sufficient material to rout grooves to provide aninterconnection of the wood boards together in the fabrication of a woodfloor.

With reference to FIG. 4, there is shown a manner in which floor boardscan be fabricated using the flexible sheet of wood strips 10. Theflexible sheet 10 of wood strips 11 is disposed flat on a supportsurface, such as a conveyor and thin sheets 20 of quality wood materialare disposed thereover with the wood strips 11 extending transversely tothe long axis and grain orientation of the sheets 20. As herein shownthe connecting polyester fiber treads 14 secured to the flexible sheetof wood strips lie between the top quality wood sheets 20 and aretherefore not present behind the sheets 20. A glue is applied on the topouter surface 15 of the wood strips 11 prior to the positioning of thethin quality wood sheets 20.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 to 12, there will be described the machine forthe fabrication of the flexible sheets 10 of wood strips. The machine isgenerally identified by reference numeral 25 and comprises an inletboard strip feeding mechanism 26 to position and load a supply of woodstrips one by one to a transporter mechanism 39. As shown in FIG. 7, theinlet feeding mechanism 26 is comprised of a feed conveyor 26′ on whichthe strips are loaded. The feed conveyor 26′ has aligning means tosupply wood strips in aligned position to the transporter mechanism 39.This aligning means is comprised by a stationary side fence 60 securedon a loading side of the feed conveyor and a pivoting and reciprocatingpusher fence 61 located on an opposed side for pushing wood stripsplaced on the feed end of the feed conveyer 26′ with an end thereofabutting against the stationary side fence 60 wherein the wood stripsare disposed in side-by-side parallel relationship on the feed conveyor26′.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 9 there is illustrated the construction of thetransporter mechanism 39. As herein shown, it is comprises of a pair ofspaced-apart transport circular discs 39′ secured to a common drivenshaft or axle 40. The transport circular discs 39′ have transverselyaligned wood strip transport slots 41 radially disposed in equidistantlyspace relationship about the outer edge 41′ of the circular discs andoriented outwardly. A controller 9 (see FIG. 6) controls the operationof an intermittent drive of the driven axle 40 and the operation of allmoving parts of the machine.

Referring again to FIG. 9, it can be seen that the circular disc 39′supports the wood strips with a the longitudinal side edge 13 thereoforiented outwardly. The drive motor of the axle 40 is synchronized tostop every time the wood strips reach its vertical position asidentified by the wood strip bearing reference numeral 11″′ positionedunder the glue droplet applicators 29. As herein shown, there are fourglue droplet applicators 29 to apply four spaced-apart glue droplets 12on the top side edge 13 of the wood strips. These applicators areprovided with dispensing nozzle 29′ as better illustrated in FIG. 10.After the glue droplets are applied the transport circular discs 39 arecaused to rotate to position the next wood strip, held by the transportcircular discs 39, in position under the applicators 29. Meanwhile, theprevious wood strip with the glue droplet is displaced towards atransfer mechanism 30 which consists of a pair of transfer discs 31 alsosecured on a driven shaft or axle 43 which is drivingly coupled to thedriven axle 40 of the transport circular discs 39′.

The transfer discs 31 are disposed in spaced relationship with thetransport circular discs 39′ whereby transfer teeth 44 formed in theouter periphery of the transfer wheels progressively engaged the woodstrip having the glue droplets disposed thereon and transfers it fromthe transport circular discs to a feed mechanism 45 which transfers thewood strip to an input end 31′ of a conveyor 32 where said wood stripsare accumulated in predetermined quantity and disposed with theirlongitudinal side edges to be in contact with one another andinterconnected by the glue droplets. Accordingly, the wood stripsinterconnect by their glue droplets at the input end of the conveyors32.

Referring to FIG. 11, there is shown the construction of the feedmechanism 45. The feed mechanism comprises a support frame 45′ on whichare secured two pairs of feed arms 48 and 48′ which are mounted onrespective linear guide tracks 49 and 49′ and are displaced in areciprocating motion with respect to one another. As herein shown, thefeed arms 48′ are wider than the feed arms 48 which are displaced insidethe outer feed arms. Each feed arm is equipped with a pusher finger 46and 46′ to engage a wood strip from the transfer wheels 30 to dischargethe wood strips from the wheels and push them over a straight guidesupport 50′ and onto a feed chain 46″ disposed at opposed ends of theinput end 31′ of the conveyor. These feed arms are operated at highspeed to ensure the proper discharge of the wood strips 11 from thetransfer discs 31. A motor 47, operated by the controller 9, drivestiming belts 47′ to operate the feed arms in reciprocating motion toensure controlled spacing. Accordingly, the wood strips 11 stack-up to apredetermined quantity at the input end 31′ of the conveyor 52 and theglue droplets interconnect the opposed side edges of the accumulatedwood strips together.

Referring to FIGS. 6, 7 and 12 there is shown the construction of theconveyor 32. The conveyor has a support platform 50 to which is secureda bottom belt conveyor 51 displaceable over a vertically oriented flatsupport plate 50″. A top belt conveyor 52 is displaceable above thebottom belt conveyor to form a transport gap 53 therebetween. Two ormore pressure plates, herein a plurality of pressure plate 34 aredisposed transversely behind the top belt conveyor to apply pressure toa top side of the wood strips interconnected in spaced relationship andconveyed by the bottom and top belt conveyors along the transport gap 53over the support plate 50′ to prevent deformation of the wood strips.

The bottom and top belt conveyors 51 and 52 are comprised of two or morebelt conveyors, herein four, constructed of a flexible glue releasematerial such as silicon, whereby not to adhere to the glue droplets.The belt conveyors are aligned with the glue droplets to squeeze anyglue droplets exceeding the top and bottom surface of the wood strips.The top and bottom belt conveyors are vertically and longitudinallyaligned with one another and transversely spaced for alignment with theglue droplets which interconnect the wood strips. They are driven insynchronism.

The pressure plates 54 are adjustable pressure plates whereby to set adesired pressure on the wood strips within the transport gap 53 and toadjust for the thickness of the wood strips. Also the conveyors are of asufficient length to permit the glue droplets to cool down to the pointthat they apply sufficient mechanical resistance to maintain the woodstrips interconnected to one another along their opposed side edges andmaintain a substantially constant spacing between the wood strips.

The conveyor belts are herein shown trained about driving idle rollswith the idle roll assembly 56 and 56′ being adjustable to apply tensionon the belt conveyors to provide sufficiently tension and traction forceto maintain the strips in position along the transport gap 53.

As can be better seen in FIG. 6, the exit end 36 of the machine isprovided with devices to apply a further means of retention of the woodstrips interconnected by glue droplets. This means of retention can be,for example, the application of a tread or band of flexible polyesterfibers impregnated with glue and applied on the top surface of theassemble wood strips exiting the conveyor. As herein shown, the machineis equipped with two glue tape applicators 35 which applies theretention strips 14, as illustrated in FIG. 1.

As previously described in the fabrication of engineered wood boards, itis common that the wood boards be provided with a wider wood strip atopposed end of the wood board whereby interconnecting joint can beformed therein, such as a lap joint or tongue and groove joint. Themachine 25 of the present invention provides for this wider board at theinlet feeding mechanism 26 which is equipped with a magazine 27 wherebyto store wood strips of wider dimension. These wood strips are disposedin the machine at specific locations whereby to lie at the ends of thequality wood sheets disposed thereon whereby to effect a connectingjoint. The insertion of these wider wood strips is programmed in thecomputer of the controller 9. As shown in FIG. 8, the wider wood strips,herein wood strips 8 are discharged from the bottom end of the magazine27 by a pivoting positioner 70 which transfers the wood strips 8, in aguided fashion, at the bottom of the magazine 27 and into a vacant oneof the transport slots 41 of the transport disc 39′. In order to have avacant slot 41 at that location the feed conveyor 38 has a pressureplate 37 which is actuable to retain the wood strips at the feed end ofthe feed conveyer immediately in front of the transport circular disc39′. Two of these wider wood strips are fed in sequence to define an endof a strip of flexible wood strips completed and the beginning of a nextstrip. The controller will stop the operation of the wood strip feedingassembly whereby to create a space between the already completed woodstrips sheet and the next one to be formed if it is desired to have aspace therebetween. Otherwise, the sequence will continue with thesheets abutting one another.

Briefly, the method for the fabrication of the sheet of wood strips ofthe present invention will now be described. The method generallycomprises providing a plurality of elongated wood strips 11 havingsimilar dimensions. These wood strips are fed in a predeterminedorientation to a transporter mechanism 28. The wood strips are orientedwith a longitudinal side edge thereof to receive deposits of two or morespaced-apart glue droplets thereon under a glue droplets applicatorwhich may be provided with two or more dispensing nozzles whereby toapply two or more spaced-apart glue droplets along the longitudinal sideedge of the wood strips. The method further comprises transferring thewood strips with the glue droplets to an input end of a conveyor wherethe wood strips are disposed side-by-side and interconnect in spacerelationship along opposed side edges thereof by the glue droplets.

The method further comprises conveying the wood strips interconnected inspaced relationship from opposed top and bottom surfaces thereof.Pressure is applied across the wood strips to prevent warping anddisplacement of the wood strips and to press any of the glue dropletsprojecting above the bottom surfaces of the wood strips. The conveyorsare of sufficient length whereby to permit the glue droplets to dryalong the conveyor to provide sufficient retention force of the gluedroplets to retain the wood strips interconnected in spaced-apartrelationship to form a flexible sheet of wood strips. As shown in FIG.3, the glue droplets provide for the flexion between adjacent woodstrips.

It is pointed out that the step of providing a plurality of elongatedwood strips comprises storing a plurality of wood strips, and manuallypositioning the wood strips on the feed conveyor 38. The step oforienting the longitudinal side edge of the wood strips to receive theglue droplets as herein shown is comprised by a transporter whichreceives wood strips in slots and orients the wood strips to a verticalposition under glue applicators to receive glue droplets and thentransfers the wood strips to the transfer wheels 30. The transfer wheelsare disposed in spaced relationship to one another on a drive axle anddriven in synchronism with the circular disc 39 of the transporterwhereby to transfer the wood strips to a feed mechanism which transfersthe wood strips to the input end 31′ of the conveyor 32 where they arecontinuously assembled. The conveyor engages the top and bottom surfacesof the wood strips by the belt conveyors whereby the wood strips areconveyed in a transport gap and under the pressure plates where pressureis applied to prevent the wood strips from deforming. Also a loadingmagazine is provided to store wider wood strips which are inserted inthe assembly at predetermined locations to form the outer ends of thesheet of wood strips to receive routed interconnection grooves.

It is within the ambit of the present invention to cover any obviousmodifications of the preferred embodiments described herein providedsuch modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims. It isalso contemplated that the flexible sheet of wood strips 10 may be usedfor the fabrication of flexible engineered wood sheets which would becomprised of a thin top wood sheet fabricated from a quality woodmaterial glued to a surface of the sheet of wood strips. The wood stripsextend transverse to the grain direction of the top wood sheet. Thiswould provide a sheet which has longitudinal flexibility or flexibilityin the grain direction with the wood strips also providing fordimensional stability of the flexible engineered wood strips.

1. A flexible sheet of wood strips, said wood strips being held togetherin side-by-side aligned spaced relationship by thermofusable gluedroplets spaced apart at predetermined location along opposed side edgesof said wood strips to interconnect said wood strips to one anotherbetween said opposed side edges and providing a flexible joint ofsubstantially constant width between said opposed side edges.
 2. Theflexible sheet of wood strips as claimed in claim 1 wherein there isfurther provided a retention means to provide retention of said woodstrips interconnected by said glue droplets in said flexible sheet. 3.The flexible sheet of wood strips as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidflexible sheet of wood strips is for use in the fabrication ofengineered floor boards, said wood strips being formed from a woodmaterial of inferior quality to a quality top wood layer intended to beglued to said flexible sheet transversely thereof.
 4. The flexible sheetof wood strips as claimed in claim 3 wherein said wood strips are formedfrom resinous wood or hardwood material, said wood strips beingelongated wood strips of rectangular cross-section.
 5. The flexiblesheet of wood strips as claimed in claim 1 wherein said wood strips isone of a flexible sheet of wood strips and a semi-rigid sheet of woodstrip.
 6. The flexible sheet of wood strips as claimed in claim 2wherein said retention means is constituted by two or more flexibletreads of fiber material secured to an outer face of each said woodstrips of said sheet of wood strips and disposed spaced-aparttransversely of said flexible joints to retain said wood strips in saidaligned spaced relationship.
 7. The flexible sheet of wood strips asclaimed in claim 6 wherein said flexible treads of fiber material arepolyester fibers impregnated in glue band coatings disposed across saidouter face of said wood strips transversely thereto.
 8. The flexiblesheet of wood strips as claimed in claim 3 wherein some of said woodstrips are of a wider dimension, said wood strips of wider dimensionbeing positioned at predetermined positions along said sheet of woodstrips whereby to lie adjacent end edges of said flexible sheet.
 9. Theflexible sheet of wood strips as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidflexible joints between said wood strips of said sheet of wood stripsare of substantially equal width as determined by said glue droplets.10. A machine for the fabrication of flexible sheets of wood strips,said machine comprising feed means for supplying a plurality of woodstrips to a transporter, said transporter having equidistantlyspaced-apart wood strip engagement means for transporting and orientingsaid wood strips in spaced sequence adjacent a glue droplets applicatorwherein two or more glue droplets are disposed at spaced-apartpredetermined locations along a longitudinal side edge of each said woodstrips, wood strip transfer means for transferring said wood strips withsaid glue droplets to an input end of a conveyor where said wood stripsare disposed side-by-side and interconnected in spaced relationshipalong opposed side edges thereof by said glue droplets, said conveyorhaving displacement means for engaging and conveying said wood stripsinterconnected in spaced relationship from opposed top and bottomsurfaces and to squash any of said glue droplets projecting above saidtop and bottom surfaces of said wood strips interconnected by said gluedroplets, pressure means associated with said conveyor to apply pressureacross said wood strips from opposed top and bottom surfaces thereof tokeep said wood strips flat, said glue droplets being dried or cooledsufficiently along said conveyor to provide for said glue droplets topermit a mechanical retention force to retain said wood strips ininterconnected spaced-apart relationship to form said flexible sheets ofsaid wood strips.
 11. The machine for the fabrication of flexible sheetsof wood strips as claimed in claim 10 wherein said feed means is a woodstrip positioning and loading mechanism for feeding a supply of woodstrips one by one to said transporter for engagement by saidtransporter.
 12. The machine for the fabrication of flexible sheets ofwood strips as claimed in claim 11 wherein said feed means is comprisedof a feed conveyor having wood strips aligning means for supplying woodstrips in aligned position to said transporter.
 13. The machine for thefabrication of flexible sheets of wood strips as claimed in claim 12wherein said wood strips aligning means is comprised by a stationaryside fence secured to one side of said feed conveyor, and a pivoting andreciprocating pusher fence for pushing wood strips placed on a feed endof said feed conveyor with an end thereof abutting against saidstationary side fence wherein said wood strips are disposed inside-by-side parallel relationship with said end thereof aligned withone another.
 14. The machine for the fabrication of flexible sheets ofwood strips as claimed in claim 10 wherein said transporter is comprisedby a pair of spaced-apart transporter circular discs secured to a commondriven axle, said transport circular discs having transversely alignedwood strip transport slots radially disposed in equidistantly spacedrelationship about an outer edge said transport circular discs tosupport said wood strips with said longitudinal side edge thereoforiented outwardly, and a controller to control the operation of anintermittent drive of said driven axle.
 15. The machine for thefabrication of flexible sheets of wood strips as claimed in claim 14wherein said glue droplets applicator comprises two or more gluedroplets dispensing means disposed in straight spaced-apart alignmentabove said transport circular discs to release glue droplets along saidlongitudinal side edge of a wood strip disposed aligned under said gluedroplet dispensing heads.
 16. The machine for the fabrication offlexible sheets of wood strips as claimed in claim 10 wherein said woodstrip transfer means is comprised by a pair of transfer discs secured inspaced relationship to one another on a transfer wheel driven axle, saidtransfer disc driven axle being drivingly coupled to said driven axle ofsaid transport circular discs, said transfer discs being disposed inspaced relationship with said transport circular discs wherebytransversely aligned transfer teeth formed about the outer periphery ofsaid transfer wheels progressively engage said wood strip with said gluedroplets and transfer same from said transport circular discs to a feedmechanism which positions said wood strip at said input end of saidconveyor at a rate where said wood strips are disposed with alongitudinal side edge thereof in contact with a longitudinal side edgeof a previous wood strip at said input end to interconnect said sideedge of adjacent wood strips by said glue droplets.
 17. The machine forthe fabrication of flexible sheets of wood strips as claimed in claim 10wherein said displacement means of said conveyor is comprised of asupport platform having a bottom belt conveyor displaceable over a flatsurface of said support platform and a top belt conveyor displaceableabove said bottom belt conveyor and forming a transport gaptherebetween, and two or more pressure plates disposed transverselybehind said top belt conveyor to apply pressure across top and bottomfaces of said wood strips interconnected in spaced relationship andconveyed by said belts along said transport gap over said flat surface.18. The machine for the fabrication of flexible sheets of wood strips asclaimed in claim 17 wherein said bottom and top belt conveyors arecomprised of two or more belts constructed of a flexible glue releasematerial that is non-adhering to said glue droplets, said belt conveyorsof said bottom belt conveyor being vertically and longitudinally alignedwith said belt conveyors of said top belt conveyors, said belt conveyorsbeing transversely spaced for alignment with respective ones of said twoor more spaced-apart glue droplets interconnecting said opposed sideedges of said wood strips.
 19. The machine for the fabrication offlexible sheets of wood strips as claimed in claim 18 wherein said twoor more pressure plates are adjustable pressure plates.
 20. The machinefor the fabrication of flexible sheets of wood strips as claimed inclaim 18 wherein said bottom and top belt conveyors are silicone beltconveyors.
 21. The machine for the fabrication of flexible sheets ofwood strips as claimed in claim 14 wherein said conveyor is an endlessbelt conveyor comprised of a bottom and top conveying belts driven insynchronism by a conveyor drive, said controller synchronizing saidconveyor drive with said drive of said driven.
 22. The machine for thefabrication of flexible sheets of wood strips as claimed in claim 10wherein said conveyor as a predetermined length and drive speed topermit said glue droplet to dry to provide for said sufficientmechanical retention.
 23. The machine for the fabrication of flexiblesheets of wood strips as claimed in claim 10 wherein there is furtherprovided a retention means applicator disposed along said conveyor toprogressively secure at least two spaced-apart elongated wood stripretention means transversely on one of opposed flat surfaces of saidwood strips interconnected in spaced relationship by said glue dropletsas said wood strips exit said displacement means of said conveyor. 24.The machine for the fabrication of flexible sheets of wood strips asclaimed in claim 23 wherein said wood strip retention means is comprisedby one of a tread of flexible material connected to said one of opposedflat surfaces of adjacent wood strips and a glue band impregnated withpolyester fibers.
 25. The machine for the fabrication of flexible sheetsof wood strips as claimed in claim 11 wherein there is further providedstorage means for storing wood strips of wider dimension than said woodstrips fed by said feed means, a wood strip positioner actuable from adischarge location of said storage means where one of said wood stripsof wider dimension is engaged and loaded in one of said wood stripengagement means, said feed means having arresting means to arrest saidwood strips fed by said feed means to vacate one or more of said woodstrip engagement means for receiving therein said wood strips of widerdimension, and a controller to synchronize the operation of said woodstrip positioner and said arresting means.
 26. The machine for thefabrication of flexible sheets of wood strips as claimed in claim 16wherein said feed mechanism is comprised by a pair of wood striptransfer arms to displace said wood strips from said transfer discs on asupport surface at said input end of said conveyor, said pair oftransfer arms being operated in alternating sequence to provide for acontinuous transfer of said wood strips.
 27. A method for thefabrication of flexible sheets of wood strips for use in the fabricationof engineered floor boards, said method comprising the steps of: i)providing a plurality of elongated wood strips having similardimensions, ii) feeding said wood strips in a predetermined orientationto a transporter, iii) orienting a longitudinal side edge of said woodstrips to receive two or more spaced-apart glue droplets from a gluedroplets applicator, iv) applying said two or more spaced-apart gluedroplets along said longitudinal side edge, v) transferring said woodstrips with said glue droplets to an input end of a conveyor where saidwood strips are disposed side-by-side and interconnected in spacedrelationship along opposed side edges thereof by said glue droplets, vi)conveying said wood strips interconnected in spaced relationship fromopposed top and bottom surfaces thereof, vii) applying pressure acrosssaid wood strips to stabilize said wood strip and to squash any of saidglue droplets projecting above top and bottom surfaces of said woodstrips, and viii) sufficiently drying or cooling said glue dropletsalong said conveyor to provide sufficient mechanical retention force ofsaid glue droplets to retain said wood strips in interconnectedspaced-apart relationship to form sheets of said wood strips.
 28. Themethod of claim 27 wherein said step (i) comprises positioning saidplurality of said wood strips on a feed conveyor and aligning same inside-by-side relationship to effect said step (ii).
 29. The method ofclaim 27 wherein said step (iii) comprises displacing wood strips bysaid transporter from a horizontal position to a vertical position toposition said longitudinal side edge upright under said glue applicator,said step (iv) of transferring said wood strips being effectedsimultaneously during said step (iii).
 30. The method of claim 27wherein said step (v) of transferring said wood strips comprises a pairof transfer discs secured in spaced relationship to one another on adriven axle, said transfer disc being drivingly coupled in synchronismwith said transporter to transfer said wood strips to a feed mechanismadjacent said input end of said conveyor.
 31. The method of claim 27wherein said step (vi) comprises engaging said top and bottom surfacesof said wood strips by two or more belt conveyors constructed offlexible glue release material and disposed on opposed sides of saidwood strips and displaced in synchronism, said belt conveyor beingaligned over and below said glue droplets.
 32. The method of claim 31wherein said belt conveyors displaced on a bottom side of said woodstrips are displacingly supported on a flat platform surface, andpressure applying means biased against an outer surface of said beltconveyor displaced on a top side of said wood strips to effect said step(vii).
 33. The method of claim 27 wherein said step of forming sheets ofsaid wood strips is effected by interrupting the feed of said woodstrips to said transporter as recited in step (ii) to form groups ofwood strips.
 34. The method of claim 30 wherein said feed mechanismfurther provides the step of transferring said wood strips from saidtransfer discs in alternating sequence on a support surface at an inputend of said conveyor.
 35. The method of claim 32 wherein said pressureapplying means comprises a plurality of adjustable pressure platespositioned side-by-side along at least a section of said outer surfaceof said belt conveyor displaced on said top side of said wood strips,and adjusting a biasing pressure of said pressure plate to a desiredpressure.
 36. The method of claim 27 wherein there is further providedthe step of storing a plurality of wood strips of wider dimensions,interrupting said step (ii) to provide for said transporter to receiveone or more of said wood strips of wider dimension, and positioning saidwood strips of wider dimension in said transporter.
 37. A flexibleengineered wood sheet comprising a top wood sheet fabricated from aquality wood material glued to a surface of a flexible sheet of woodstrips, said wood strips being held together in side-by-side alignedspaced relationship by thermofusable glue droplets spaced apart atpredetermined locations along opposed side edges of said wood strips tointerconnect said wood strips to one another between said opposed sideedges and providing a flexible joint of substantially constant widthbetween said opposed side edges, said wood strips having a longitudinalaxis thereof disposed transverse to a grain orientation axis of said topwood sheet to provide flexibility of said top wood sheet along saidgrain orientation axis and dimensional stability to said flexibleengineered wood sheet.